Newbie needs scanner advice....

[hassiman]

Hi,

I have finally taken the digital darkroom plunge with a new MacPro, Photoshop CS2. Now I need a scanner to scan my 6X6 and 4X5 Color tranparancies and B&W Negs. (also some 35mm stuff as well)

I would like to get decent color rendition and sharpness for web display. (Anything that I consider good enough for gallery reproduction I will have scanned by someone with a really great scanner like Mac at Nash Editions.)

I was looking at the Canon 9950F or the Epson V700 as they are what I can afford.

Can either of these do the job? Is there another better option? If I could only afford a Nikon Coolscan 9000....

[Ron Marshall]

If you mainly want a scanner for web display then go for a factory refurbished Epson 4990, on the Epson website.

I have a 4990 that I use to generate inkjet prints at up to 3x magnification from 4x5 and 5x7 b/w and color negs. The print quality at 3x and below is excellent.

[Brian Ellis]

If all you want is something good enough for web display virually any flatbed scanner big enough to handle 4x5 will do. You certainly don't need to pay for the Epson V700. You can probably find something in the $100 - $200 range that will work fine.